The Christmas period is the time of the year where everyone’s annual weight gain seems to be at the maximum. Even if you’re in good health, the festive period can have a detrimental effect on your healthy diet – especially Christmas food.
We’re not going to tell you that you can’t indulge in the Christmas Day feast or encourage weight loss during the festive season, but instead how to enjoy it whilst keeping your body intake healthier and more efficient when the time comes to work again. Because trust me, especially if you’re losing weight, those mince pies and sleep-deprived drinking sessions aren’t going to help.
Stay Active
The Christmas period is notorious for staying inside on the settee and watching Christmas films such as Elf, Home Alone & Love Actually (no, Die Hard is not a Christmas film). Since you’re more inactive than usual, this contributes to gaining weight since you’re not burning the same amount of calories as you usually do. A study from the ministry of health in New Zealand also showed that it is so much harder to become active again once you’ve been inactive for a long period of time.
Just extending daily tasks such as walking the dogs or playing with your siblings are great ways to keep burning those calories and keeping yourself acting. You could even take a family walk on Christmas Day to bond and keep your mind off the delicious food that’s waiting for you at home.
You can obviously also keep up with your gym routine, but we know how hard it can be over the Christmas period when it is sometimes closed a lot, depending on when Christmas Day falls. Going to the gym will also help you maintain muscle mass.
It’s also important to remember that lack of sleep can cause you to procrastinate exercise.
Watch The Snacks
Your parents have scolded you again for going near the sweets that have been in the cupboard since July as they’re for Christmas. However, that may be a blessing in disguise. During Christmas time, you feel obliged to go for the biscuits and cookies (well, because it’s Christmas) and that can lead to more calories, and when coupled with the lack of activity – can lead to more weight gain.
You can combat this problem at home by just keeping them out of your sight, however at parties when there’s a buffet on offer, you can’t say no. However, you need to be mindful of the snacks you’re eating just because they’re there. In fact, it’s better to eat more food with your meal as the regular food will fill you up better.
Measure Your Portions
During Christmas, it’s easy to eat a lot more because it’s Christmas, why not? Side effects of excessive overeating lead to weight gain, especially if you’re inactive. Around Christmas, the bags/tubs of sweets/food may look a bit bigger. They always state that they are sharing packs, however, they may look deceiving and a 50g bag of chocolate could be meant for two people. Use apps such as MyFitnessPal to track your calories so you don’t get caught out eating more than you should.
SMALLER PLATE
Whilst measuring your portions is always good, on Christmas day you don’t want to measure exactly how many calories are in your Christmas Dinner. A good alternative for this is to use the Delboeuf Illusion, as outlined by Elaine Watson from Food Navigator USA.
The Delboeuf Illusion is when you use a smaller plate to trick your brain into thinking it’s eating more than you are due to it taking up more of a surface area. It has been disputed whether it actually works or not, but it’s worth a try.
Eat A Lot Of Protein
It’s no secret that having a high-protein diet can help you feel full There have been a lot of studies over the years looking into just this.
When you eat, the peptides (digested proteins) block things called MOR’s (Mu-Opioid Receptors). Basically, when these receptors are open, it tells the brain to eat more but when enough peptides block the receptors, it then tells the brain to stop eating which, in turn, tells the gut to release glucose – which then gives the feeling that it is no longer time to eat.
It’s a good thing that Christmas dinner comes with a lot of protein, am I right?
Avoid Processed Foods
Processed foods are everywhere, their convenience makes them so popular. Christmas dinner favourites such as mashed potatoes and stuffing are widely available among any shop’s chilled section. However, these foods are very unhealthy and are full of fats and sugars which make it so much easier to pile on the calories.
Tesco’s mash contains 195 calories and is extremely high in saturated fats. Whereas in homemade mash potato can be around 120 calories. Whilst it may not seem much, when you eat a lot of mashed potatoes, it will make a difference.
The best way to combat this is to buy fresh ingredients from your local supermarket and create food from scratch. Not only will it be healthier, but it will also be tastier as well.
Weigh Yourself
Remembering to weigh yourself, it will be the most effective way to measure your weight gain and keep it to a minimum. Setting yourself a goal is a good way to measure it as well. If you only want to gain a maximum of 3kg over Christmas, weighing yourself every few days is a great way to make sure you’re still on track. Remember to think of your long term fitness goal.
Drink Healthier Alcohol
Being British means that around Christmas time we consume high levels of alcohol. An article by The Sun notes that a pint of beer is around 244kcal, cider at 216kcal and a double shot of Bailey’s is 175kcal.
However, a gin and slimline tonic can be around 64kcal, 175ml of white wine is 160kcal and vodka and soda is only 60 kcal.
It is important to note however that since they have fewer calories, that doesn’t mean you can drink more as vodka has more units of alcohol than a pint of larger would. See this link here for a full diagram on alcohol and how many units are in each drink.
